An Overview of The Changing Body: Health, Nutrition, and Human Development in the Western World Since 1700

NBER Working Paper No. 16938Issued in April 2011NBER Program(s): DAEHE

This summary of The Changing Body: Health, Nutrition, and Human Development in the Western World since 1700 (Cambridge) was prepared for presentation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health in March 2011. The book is built on the authors' work with 300 years of height and nutrition data and discusses their findings in the context of technophysio evolution, a uniquely modern form of rapid physiological development, the result of humanity's ability to control its environment and create technological innovations to adapt to it.